European Candidates Study 1994

Political views, motivation, political career, social and political
networks. Attitude of candidates applying for European Parliament.

Topics: Motivation behind candidateship; political and administrative
career before candidateship; political office of parents or other
family members; duration of own party membership; weekly time budget
for party activities in average as well as for campaigning; division of
time spent for campaigning, public events, party sessions, publicity
campaigns and contacting mass media; assessment of nomination
procedures regarding candidateship for European parliament; supporting
groups and one’s own organisations for European Parliament
candidateship and general estimation of the influence selected groups
and organisations have on candidate election; preference for the
division of political resorts into national or European responsibility;
attitude regarding efforts to unify Western Europe; priority of
economic or political aspects in the EU; attitudes concerning common
European currency; assumed attitude of the national government, members
of parliament, of one’s own party, of the voters of one’s own party as
well as information concerning one’s own position within the employment
creation programme created by the President of the European Commission
as well as further removal of national border control within the
European Union; self-classification on a left-right continuum;
classification of voters, as well as members of parliament of one’s own
party on a left-right-continuum; postmaterialism (Inglehart-Index)
attitude towards European unification and judgement of the political
and social consequences of the European unification (scale); most
important political issue; preferable political level to solve the most
significant issues; most important tasks as a member of the European
Parliament; decisional preference in the event of a conflict in matters
before the European Parliament between personal judgement, the policy
of the national party or of the policy of one’s own fraction in
European Parliament; aspired political career; self-assessment of the
probability of being elected as a member of European Parliament;
frequency of contact with selected groups, like lobbyists, parties,
National Ministers, national citizens and bureaucrats and perceived
influence of the lobbyists on the Members of the European Parliament;
amount of correspondence received each week from citizens and others;
sense of responsibility concerning voters, citizens or one’s party;
preferred degree of decision-making power of selected groups in the
fields of legislation, deciding the household budget, political control
of commission activities and choosing members of the commission;
perceived conflicts between party fractions, parties as well as voters
concerning national and European interests; satisfaction with how
democracy works within the European Union and in one’s own country;
confidence in European decisions made in the interest of one’s own
country; preferred decision-making by the Council of Ministers;
attitude towards the passing of laws which are valid for all EU member
countries; emotional closeness to different geographical units: town of
residence, place of birth, country, Europe or the world.

Demography: age (classified); sex; marital status; sector of
employment of questioned person; employment in public sector;
education; denomination; church attendance.

Additionally coded: dispatch date; reply date; follow-up telephone
call; electoral district; party) list position; electoral success,
European political group membership; number of elected candidates as
well as those on record.